Method of making felt slippers



Sept-11, 1956 G. F. JONES ETHOD OF MAKING FELT SLIPPERS Filed Sept. 13,1955 United States Patent Q ivmrnon on MAKING FELT SLIPPE'RS GeorgeFrancis Jones, Stockport, England, assignor to The Lancashire FeltCompany Limited, Manchester, England, a British company ApplicationSeptember 13, 1955, Serial No. 534,095

Claims priority, application Great Britain September 14, 1954 4 Claims.(Cl. 12-142) This invention relates to felt Slippers, that'is to sayslippers of the type wherein the upper or foot covering part consistslargely or wholly of amaterial formed of felted synthetic or naturalfibers, and has for its object to provide an improved construction ofsuch uppers and a novel and convenient method of making same.

According to the invention, a slipper upper of the type described ischaracterised in that the toe region or the heel region or both arereinforced by provision at said regions of thickened parts which areintegral with the material of the upper.

The reinforcements may be constituted by thickened parts which consistsolely of felt but, if desired, the thickening may be constituted by thepresence of some other material integral with the felt.

In the manufacture of felt articles it is necessary for the felt, afterbeing formed (usually as a so-called form) to be hardened and shrunk soas to bind the fibers together, such hardening and shrinking beingeffected at any convenient stage during the manufacture of the article.

According to a further feature of the present invention there isprovided a method of making slipper uppers of the type described,wherein the felt is provided with reinforcements for the toe regions orthe heel regions or both by providing a plurality of layers of materialat said regions prior to hardening the felt so as to provide appropriatethickened portions which become integrated with the felt during thehardening.

The additional layers may be provided by folding over or overlappingparts of the felt, or by placing a piece of material (which may be feltor any other suitable material) thereon, or by splitting the felt andinserting a piece of material into the split.

The invention will be described further, by way of example, withreference to the accompanying drawings, wherein Figs. 1 to 8 illustratesequentially the steps involved in manufacturing a preferred form ofslipper upper, in accordance with the invention. Figs. 7 and 8 are shownon a slightly enlarged scale.

Referring to Fig. l, as is usual, felt is formed upon a substantiallyconical block, in the shape of a large thick loosely felted cone 10which is generally referred to as a form. Such a form 10 can be made upinto two uppers without any material being wasted, the first step beingto fold the form 10 along opposite generating lines 11, 12, as shown inFig. 2 so as to result in two roughly triangular panels of equal sizewhich lie against one another, the apex 13 of the cone forming theapices of the triangular panels. At each base corner of the triangles athree-cornered piece 17 is cut from the panels, each out being madethrough both thicknesses from a point about six inches along the basefrom the corner, to a point about five inches along the foldedgenerating line from the corner along line 14. Both panels are now outsimultaneously by a single out along the line bisecting the apex anglesof the triangles and the two severed panels are now opened out. Eachforms a substantially V- 2,762,068 Patented Sept. 11, 1956:

shaped blank 16 as shown in Fig. 3 and'each', with'one of thethree-cornered pieces 17 goes to form a singlev upper. Thethree-cornered piece 17 cut from the corner is opened out as shown inFig. 3 and placed upon the-blankv 16.-as. near to the apex of the V aspossible with the fold line. thereof substantially coincident with thefold line ofthe: blank as shown in Fig. 4, and with two out sides 14.-ofthe. three-cornered piece 17 close to and substantially-parallel to theouter edges of the arms of the V of-the blank 16:

The arms 18, 19 of the V of the blank 16 are next folded approximatelymedially of their lengths and the: ends thereof are taken towards oneanother so that they: lie transversely of the fold line of the blank andoverlap.- oneanother by about two or three inches as shown in Fig. 5. Inthis folded and overlapped. condition the blank is hardened under aconventional hardening; lid, which fuses the three-corneredpiece 17 tothe blank 16 and. also; fuses the overlapping parts of the arms 18, 19together; so that there results a large upper-shaped piece of hard. enedfelt as shown in Fig. 6, the part Zilwhere the-threecorneredpiece 17 wasplaced being; the toe-regionthereof, and the heel region 21 beingconstituted: by-the fused. overlapping parts 18, 19, of the arms of theV. This is now shrunk in known manner to the desired upper size as shownin Fig. 7 and is finished by blocking by any convenient method andtrimmed along lines 22, 23. The upper so formed, which is shown in Fig.8, is thicker at the toe region 20 and the heel region 21 than theremainder thereof, and these regions are therefore reinforced.

In a second method of manufacturing the uppers, the steps are the sameas that just described with the exception that, instead of merely beingplaced in position on the V-shaped blank, the three-cornered piece 17 isinserted therein. To this end, the V-shaped blank 16 is split in itsthickness at the corner thereof and the threecornered piece 17 is placedinto the split in a position corresponding to that shown in Fig. 4. Thematerial of the blank 16 and the three-cornered piece 17 are feltedtogether or fused in the subsequent hardening operation.

In a third method, the blank 16 is split as in the method justdescribed, but in this instance, instead of using the three-corneredpiece of felt, a piece of another suitable material is used of similarshape. This may conveniently be of woven straw or rafiia, jute, hemp,sizal, silk or any fabric and in such latter instances it is possibleduring the finishing operations to expose the surface thereof byremoving some of the thickness of the felt in the toe region, forexample by shaving or by use of an abrasive.

It will be appreciated that it is not essential that both the toe andheel portions be reinforced. For example, the three-cornered piece 17could be dispensed with and the upper made with only the heel portionreinforced, or vice versa.

I claim: a

1. A method of making a slipper upper consisting largely of feltedfibers and having a heel portion and a toe portion, comprising the stepsof providing a conical loosely-felted form of the material, flatteningsaid form along opposite generating lines to result in two contiguousroughly triangular panels, severing a three-cornered piece from eachbase corner of the triangles, severing the form into two V-shaped blanksby cutting along a line bisecting the apex of the triangles, overlappingthe arms of each V so that each blank has roughly the appearance of alarge upper, and hardening the blanks so that the overlapped partsbecome integrated therewith and provide thickened reinforced heelportions in the uppers.

2. A method of making slipper uppers consisting largely of felted fibersand each having a heel portion and a toe portion, comprising the stepsof providing a conical loosely-feltedform of the material, flatteningsaid form along opposite generating lines to result in two continguousroughly triangular panels, severing a threecornered piece from eachbasecorner of the triangles,

. hardening the blanks so that the overlapped parts and thethree-cornered pieces become integrated with the blank and'providethickened reinforced heel and toe I portions in the uppers; V

3. A method of making a slipper upper having heel and toe portionscomprising the steps of, providing a conical loosely-felted formofrnaterial, flattening said form along opposite generating lines toresult in 'tWo contiguous iroughly triangular panels, severing athree-cornered piece from each base corner of the triangles, severingthe form into two V-shaped blanks by cutting along a line bisecting ftheapex of the triangles,loverlapping the arms of each V-shaped blank, andhardening the blanks so that the overlapped parts become integratedtherewith and pro-" vide thickened heel portions.

' 4. A method of making a slipper upper having heel and toe portionscomprising the steps of, providing a conical looselyfelted form of thematerial, flattening said form along opposite generating lines into apair of contiguous triangular panels, severing a threecornered piecefrom each base corner of the triangles, severing the form into V-shapedblanks by cutting along a line bisecting the apex of the triangles,applying each three-cornered piece to itsassociated blank at the apexthereof, overlapping the arms of each V so that each blank has roughlythe appearance of a large upper, and hardening the blanks so that theoverlapped parts and the three-cornered pieces become integrated withthe blank and provide thickened reinforced heel and toe portions in theuppers.

References Cited in the file of this-patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 87,063Palmer Feb. 16, 1869 275,250 Moulton Apr. 3, 1883 1,640,362 Mohler eta1. Aug. 30, 1927 2,457,630 Beetson Dec. 28, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS I632,433 France May 5, 1 928 729,343 France Apr. .28, 1932 Great BritainNov. 2, 1933.

